Popular book that you didn’t enjoy

[Wanttocry]

Not really a TAAT but inspired by the Crawdads thread.

What’s a book that has been raved about, but that you didn’t really enjoy? For me it would have to be The Goldfinch, I just didn’t really get it.

@BlessedBeTheFruitCake

Hamnet, just couldn’t get into it.

Oh yes I have abandoned this about 2 3rds of the way through and its collecting dust on my bookcase.

A Little Life - I couldn’t wait to finish the book the misery became tedious rather than upsetting

A Secret History- what a waste of my time

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- how much detail is needed. Could have been a third of what it was again tedious

Eat Pray Love - I don’t think I’ve every read any other autobiographical book and disliked the writer so much. Unbelievably self righteous and smug.

I hated “The Amber Spyglass.” I don’t even remember a sex or implied sex scene happening though. Does anyone remember whereabouts in book it is roughly? Is it near the end?
TAS just doesn’t feel like it belonged in the same series as “Northern Lights.” TAS was pseudo-intellectual garbage.

Hated the ending of Crawdads - made a mockery of the whole premise of the book.

Also HATED My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent - should come with a trigger warning, made me feel sick. Kept reading because I thought it must get better but it didn't.

@Firevixen

Catcher in the rye. Literally nothing happens at all. Just an annoying teenager talking about themself.

Yes another vote for this - so boring, just didn't get it.

My Dark Vanessa, it just made me too uncomfortable.
The Slap, utterly hateful people.
We are all completely beside ourselves, a boring animal rights lecture whare nothing actually happens.

The Silent Patient - GARBAGE!
The Dictionary of Lost Words - twee and didactic.
Bruny - unbelievable and farcical.

@Musication

I really did not enjoy Little Fires Everywhere. Found it hard worn to read and pretty cliched.

Yeah I pretty much skin read that as it was padded out too much.

*skim read that should say

The midnight library - annoyed me to no end. Felt like a great concept but execution wasn't great. Couldn't figure out how it had made such an impact on so many people!

Little Women.

All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr.

Yes - me too. Hated it.

Battled through The Luminaries, finished it but think I didn't really "get" it.

Both Sally Rooney books - loathed them, will never get that wasted time back, will never read another one of hers. Tiresome, pretentious and dull imo.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. So hyped at the time and just very middling.

Most of Martin Amis’s output after the Rachel Papers.

Eleanor Oliphant and Girl on the train…both really depressing

I tried Wolf Hall but only read a few pages such heavy going. And the TV adaptation settings were so dark I could hardly see anything on the screen. Didn't like Eleanor Oliphant much either.

life after life hated it

Eleanor Olipbhant...

Erm, Girl on a Train.

Thin stories, immaturely written. Esp the latter.

Girl on the Train - poorly written and it just left a nasty feeling after reading it
Life after Life - couldn't get on with the sudden changes of scene at all and found it incredibly negative and depressing to read
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Help - really didn't get on with this at all, although I'm the only one out of my group of close friends to think this - all the others loved it.

White Teeth. Was so glad to get to the last page!

The trick with A Little Life is to take a swig of something each time someone says “I’m sorry” in the book.

White Teeth. It feels really unworthy but I often wonder if it was the marketability of Zadie Smith that made the book.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. The fact that he has a career makes me irrationally angry.

I love The Secret History and I still have a slight crush on Donna Tartt. .

Fifty shades of grey. Wasted £8 on that fucker and managed about 3 chapters before deciding it was more fifty shades of shite.

@Standrewsschool

The Tattooist of Auscwitz

Try reading the Bee Keeper of Aleppo. It's definitely worth a read

Ha ha @HopingForOurRainbowBaby my then 12 year old once said nobly: mummy I have done two things. One will make you cross, one will please you. I downloaded 50 shades of grey onto my kindle but I only read the first chapter. It was so badly written!

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

I’d forgotten about this one. The section set in Lithuania was shockingly bad. I’ve never been to Lithuania, but I could tell instantly that the author hadn’t been there either. There was an American-Imperialist smugness that made me want to throw the book across the room.

I agree about The Slap. Horrible characters and constant racist language. I can’t decide whether to give my copy to a charity shop or put it in the recycling. Which would be more ethical?

I thought Trainspotting was massively overrated too. I didn’t finish it.